UStream versus GMA Network

Manny Pacquiao chalked another historic victory today by beating Golden Boy Oscar dela Hoya. That news is old by now.

What's unique in our experience is the way we watched it. My wife Data could not wait for the local telecast, which was much-delayed and peppered with too many ads. So she found a webcast of the show, courtesy of UStream. (How was this possible? Some Pinoys who had HBO pay-per-view put a webcam in front of the TV -- we could hear their chatter as the game progressed.)

But back to our main topic. We watched it through UStream, bypassing the delayed telecast and the repetitive, mind-numbing interruptive ads. Thanks to the internet, we had this power.

More and more, I am seeing this pattern in the future. Television is at odds with the internet. TV wants to interrupt our viewing pleasure with lots of commercials (it's the primary way to sustain the show). The internet is all about freedom. In the internet, if someone posts content that I need to buy, I can just find another website that is willing to give away the same content for free.

I hope that this competition of sorts from the Internet will soon make the traditional TV networks prefer to do live broadcasts, without delay.

Btw, Mabuhay si Pacquiao! Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! :)